A sequel to the Indo-Pak war film is on the cards; Suniel Shetty is the only actor who has been retained from JP Dutta’s 1997 original.

It’s been 15 years since director JP Dutta’s superhit film, Border (1997), based on the Indo-Pak war of 1971, hit the screens. It’s also been six years since Dutta directed a movie — his last film was the Aishwarya-starrer Umrao Jaan (2006). But he’s now set to return to Bollywood with a sequel to the war film titled Border 2.

However, the only actor being retained from the original multi-starrer is Suniel Shetty. “I’m playing an army officer in Border 2,” says Suniel. The original film had actors Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Akshaye Khanna, Pooja Bhatt and Rakhee Gulzar, among others. However Shetty reveals that none of them are there in the sequel: “No, they are not doing it. It has a different bunch of actors.”

Apparently, model and actor Muzammil Ibrahim will be one of the new cast members. He too is likely to play an army officer. The rest of the cast is yet to be finalised, even though the film is meant to go on the floors in a couple of months.

We learnt, however, that the sequel will not be a continuation of the original story, though it will be in the same genre. That also makes it possible for Suniel Shetty to be cast once again. If you recall, in Border, he played a subedar with the Border Security Force (BSF) who died during the war.

Shetty says, “I’m sure this story will help the betterment of the relationship between India and Pakistan.” After a series of comedies like De Dana Dan (2009), Tum Milo Toh Sahi (2010) and Thank You (2010), Suniel also seems to be back to doing what he does best — being an action hero. He is also shooting for two more action-packed movies, Shooter and Enemy. In both the films, he plays a cop.